#### 17.5.2 Adjusting table appearance

Before you attempt the fine tuning described in this section:

- To specify output formats and general options for DITA table types, see §6.9 Specifying formats and options for tables.
- To map table elements to output formats using attributes, see §6.3.2 Mapping table outputclass attributes to formats.
- To define properties for each table format, see §7.7 Defining table output formats.

You can fine-tune a few aspects of table appearance in WinHelp:

Rules, fill, line breaks

Graphics

Column width

Column straddles

Rules, fill, line breaks

These settings apply to all tables in the document:

    [Tables]
    ; TableRules = None (help default), or one of the Box types:
    ; Box, Double, Thick, Shadow, Para, or Variable
    TableRules=None
    ; TableFill = AsIs (default, shading is unavailable), ColorOnly, None
    TableFill=AsIs
    ; ForceTableLineBreaks = No (default) or Yes (make soft breaks hard)
    ForceTableLineBreaks=No

TableRules and TableFill determine whether corresponding values set in a table-format configuration file take effect:

- If TableRules=None, DITA2Go does not write borders.
- If TableRules=Box, Double, Thick, or Shadow, DITA2Go ignores the corresponding table-format configuration values.
- If TableFill=None or ColorOnly, DITA2Go ignores the table-format configuration settings for shading.

When ForceTableLineBreaks=Yes, DITA2Go turns line wraps in table cells into line breaks in WinHelp, which often does a poor job of wrapping text in table cells.

Graphics

If you have frames anchored inside a table cell that do not appear in the output, specify the following:

    [Tables]
    ; TableGraphics = Standard (default, in cell), None, or Outside
    ; applies only to non-inline and non-runin frames anchored in cell
    TableGraphics=Outside

Column width

DITA2Go has two settings available to fine tune the cell size. You can adjust the table column width as a percentage of the original width, or change the width by a number of twips (twentieths of a point):

    [Tables]
    ; TblColWid* rescales all table column widths in the file, using:
    ;   Pct as the percentage to apply to the original size, 0-32766
    ;   Add as the twips to add to the scaled result; neg to subtract
    TblColWidPct=100
    TblColWidAdd=0

You can use both in combination; for example, to add 20% + 360 twips:

    [Tables]
    TblColWidPct=20
    TblColWidAdd=360

To specify the full width of tables for which column widths are percentages:

    [Tables]
    ; TblFullWidth is the size in twips used to compute column widths when
    ; widths are given as percentages, default of 9360 twips (6.5 inches).
    TblFullWidth=9360

Column straddles

By default, DITA2Go combines table cells that straddle columns into a single cell in WinHelp; however, you can override the default:

    [Tables]
    ; MergeStradCells = Yes (default, combine col-straddling cells) or No
    MergeStradCells=No

Note: For Word output, the default value of MergeStradCells is No (the opposite of the default for WinHelp); see §15.6 Converting tables to print RTF.

Previous Topic: 17.5.1 Positioning tables and table titles

Next Topic: 17.5.3 Converting table rows to topics and table cells to pop-ups

Parent Topic: 17.5 Converting tables to WinHelp RTF

Sibling Topics:

17.5.1 Positioning tables and table titles

17.5.3 Converting table rows to topics and table cells to pop-ups